Whereas the Independence Day movement initiated by the
Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, did not include the enslaved
descendants of Africans, nor were they recognized as full human beings under
the Declaration of Independence; and
Whereas President Abraham Lincoln signed an executive order
known as the Emancipation Proclamation that granted freedom to slaves in the
states of the Confederacy on January 1, 1863; and
Whereas slave owners in the Confederate states continued to
enslave people in defiance of the Emancipation Proclamation; and
Whereas, after the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, the
Union army was dispatched to the Confederate states to restore order and to
ensure that the Emancipation Proclamation was enforced; and
Whereas, when Union Major General Gordon Granger read
General Order Number 3 in the Gulf Coast town of Galveston, Texas, on June 19,
1865, containing those most important words, “all slaves are free,” impromptu
celebrations erupted across the state as the long-delayed news spread; and
Whereas June 19 is the oldest and most widely known
celebration of African-American emancipation and a time for revival meetings,
family reunions and celebrations of freedom, including pilgrimages by slaves
and descendants of slaves to Galveston; and
Whereas June 19 is the freedom forerunner to the Thirteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted freedom to all
slaves born in the United States, and the date is pivotal in our nation's
Independence Day movement; and
Whereas in 1997 the 105th United States Congress passed
Senate Joint Resolution 11 and House Joint Resolution 56 officially recognizing
Juneteenth Independence Day; and
Whereas a formal apology for slavery, House Concurrent
Resolution 356, was sponsored in the United States Congress by Representative
Tony Hall of Ohio at the first annual Washington Juneteenth 2000 National
Holiday Observance; and
Whereas Idaho, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Delaware and
Alaska have already recognized the end of slavery in the United States through
a Juneteenth state holiday, and thousands of petitions have been sent to the
White House urging President Bush to declare June 19 a national holiday; and
Whereas if a Presidential Proclamation were issued, Juneteenth
would be recognized as a national holiday and a very significant step would be
taken to bring healing in the United States from the devastation caused by
slavery; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:
That we, the members of the Seventy-first Legislative
Assembly, do hereby declare Juneteenth, June 19 of each year, to be a day for
celebration statewide of the dignity and freedom of all citizens.
Filed in the office of
Secretary of State June 26, 2001
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